I don't know if she took after me. Rachael is her own strong person. I think she took after Leah Maxine.
I asked to have her induced on Friday, January 17 and Grandmother and Great-Grandmother were both still alive. Can you imagine how happy both of them would have been to have her born on their birthday? She was three weeks late already. My doctor was in the hospital so I was assigned to the doctor late of Warsaw, Poland. He said that he'd induce me on Monday the 20th. Rachael came mid afternoon on Sunday during a football playoff game. The hospital was deserted. Everyone was watching the game. They tried to send me home but I said I was not going home without a baby. They tried to send me home at 11 am. Rachael was born at 3:12 pm. She was turned the wrong way (posterior -- sunny side up) and she turned around at the end. She fell off the monitor and her heartbeat went away. The nurses thought she'd died. I could hear them talking about preparing for a fetal demise. Mark was holding my hand and they were two feet behind him talking about fetal demise and you should have seen the look on his face and I had to tell him that I could feel her moving that it was okay that she was alive. He believed me. Rachael came out really fast and they put her on the baby tray and she immediately rolled over and almost fell off and hit the floor. So, she rolled over at one minute old.
They took her away really fast to respiratory therapy. She needed some "wringing out" She was considered a "precipatory delivery" and needed some help. We'd dropped off Gin and Becca at Mark's parents at ten thirty. We were supposed to leave them with our neighbors but they were at church since it was Sunday. I got to my room about five and they brought Rachael to us about five thirty and Mark's mother called about ten minutes later and asked when he was going to come pick up Gin and Becca. They wanted to watch the football game and their granddaughters apparently required attention.
That is the kind of family support I had. I said I needed help being a new mother with two toddlers and my mother in law told me that it was MY mother's job to help me. She said that my mother needed to quit her job and fly in to assist me. My mother in law said it wasn't her job to help me. My mother in law was a ballet teacher who worked five hours a week. She lived in the same city but she didn't want to help with her own grandchildren.
My children grew up knowing that the local grandmother didn't want to help them or spend time with them. She spent time with all the other cousins...they all lived with her at some point. She supported her daughters and their children. My children knew that they did not qualify.
It's kind of sad that my children were left out of so much. They lived here and and knew that their cousins got the grandparent attention.
I am so proud of Rachael. She is strong and smart. She is a part of you and me and mom and grandmother and great grandmother. I think she took after all of us.
